Fight For Control Of Minnesota Legislature Begins
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The race for control of the legislature has begun, even though the 2016 session still has unfinished business.
Minnesota lawmakers went home this year without passing the biggest bills: transportation funding and public works. Republican leaders are now asking Minnesotans to give them entire control of both the House and Senate to stop that kind of disruption from happening again.
"We were able to stand up for middle class Minnesotans, to protect them from tax increases that the democrats were proposing at a time when we had a surplus," Republican Speaker of the House Kurt Daudt said Tuesday. "We just didn't think that made sense."
The 2016 legislative session ended in confusion. Democratic Minority Leader Paul Thissen, who exchanged heated words with the Speaker that night, called the Republican candidate campaign event a "Mission Accomplished" moment.
"For Republicans to claim victory after failing to get the job done approaches self-parody," he said in a statement.
Democrats have already begun their effort to win the House Majority, warning voters that Republican control will mean an anti-woman, anti-family "Trump Agenda."
"I sometimes worry in the night about Donald Trump being President of the United States because I think he would be dangerous for us, and he would be a very difficult president," DFL Deputy Minority Leader Erin Murphy said.
Governor Mark Dayton and key lawmakers are expected to meet this week to lay the groundwork for a Special Session sometime in June.